Summer Madness

It's summertime. That means it's time to play-to experience some leisure. But our work-oriented society does not give leisure its due. In his book, When I Relax I Feel Guilty, Tim Hansel talks about the business of play, or "leisure" in an insightful way:

"If you excuse me a moment for not speaking English, I think you will find it helpful to know the background of the word ‘leisure.' It comes from the Latin word ‘licere,' which means ‘to be permitted.' More today than ever, we need to learn how to give ourselves permission to relax, to play, to enjoy life, and to enjoy God for Who He is.

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One of the cornerstones of Christian theism is the idea that humankind was created to be a reflection of God himself. The Genesis account claims "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" (Gen. 1:27). Paul claimed human beings are to be "imitators of God" (Eph. 5:1). Read more

Whenever I think about courageous people I usually think of someone who has done an amazing thing, like running into a burning building to save an elderly person or risking his own life by jumping into flood waters to save a mother and her baby-you know, things worthy of media coverage. But those kinds of courageous acts are not afforded to many of us (not to mention that most of us carry a fair degree of uncertainty about whether or not we are brave enough or strong enough to pull those acts off if they were).

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Our first family dog was a small Border terrier with a grizzle-and-tan coat and fiercely intelligent eyes. We named him Max. And just dare to play tug-of-war with him. Max loved tug-of-war. With resolute determination he'd lock down on one end of the rope, shaking and jerking it back and forth while emitting a continuous, deep, bring-it-on growl. Read more

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There is an amazing Old Testament story about some guys and some sticks. The sticks were called staffs, and they were pretty handy in that agrarian culture. People used them to walk over rugged terrain, to poke and manage their livestock, and to beat back wolves—both the animal and human kind.

God was looking for a tribe within the twelve tribes of Israel at the time in order to administrate the duties of temple worship. So God told Moses to gather the “staffs” of the leaders from each of these tribes and to carve their names on them. Moses was to lay the staffs before God overnight. God told Moses he would show which tribe was chosen through a supernatural sign—the dead stick of the chosen tribe would grow leaves and foliage overnight.

The next morning, Moses “saw that Aaron’s staff, which represented the house of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds” (Num. 17:8).

How cool is that?

Imagine being one of those tribal leaders. They had to be wondering what was going to happen—curiosity was piqued. But they just obeyed (which is what trust looks like). The only one in control here was God. No one was manipulating or maneuvering results. They just watched wide-eyed to see what God would do. This is simple faith. And the result was miraculous: God moved. Something changed. What was dead began to produce.

I would rather produce than be dead. I like the idea of supernatural growth being a part of my life and faith. I’m suggesting that simple faith is necessary for that. I think God wants us to lay our daily lives—the stuff we do and things we use (our staffs)—in reckless abandon before him, and then stand back, brimming with curiosity and trust.

God doesn’t want us to try to manipulate and control outcomes. We are to bring to him our dead human activity; he will then cause it to bud and sprout with spiritual life. We trust him; the fruit of God comes; we produce spiritual “almonds” that can feed the world. Good times.

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The apostle Paul wrote, "There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears" (Phil. 1:6 MSG). You gotta love this. God promises to keep chasing us and working in us even after we start our journey of faith. Read more

Christians everywhere celebrate the whole enchilada this weekend-the heart of the gospel is about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrection, in particular, has been viewed by the church-historical as the most important aspect of the Christian faith. Paul said if there is no resurrection then we are "to be pitied more than all men" (1 Cor. 15:18). The resurrection of Jesus is not just seen as a historical event that we celebrate; it is a critical dimension of our very existence as Christians. Read more

We Americans like being strong, individualistic, and tough. It’s so . . . American. We are rugged individualists. And there is some good in that. But there is also danger. Read more

Everybody loves a great ending of a book or movie. I hate stories that end badly. If an ending is bad, the whole story seems like a waste of time. I wonder if that says something about how the story of our lives should end? Death only comes in two varieties: fast or slow. Having a fatal accident or heart attack would be a fast death-one moment you're alive; the next you're dead. A slow death happens after a prolonged battle with a terminal illness, or as a result of old age. Read more

When I was a kid, I had a pretty stiff case of childhood asthma. I couldn't run much and generally sucked at anything related to sports. Consequently, I was usually the last one to get picked for teams during gym class. The scene usually played out like this:

The gym teacher would line us all up against the wall. He'd assign two captains and the picking began. All the popular kids would get picked first, then the average ones. Eventually everyone would get picked except for me and one or two of the girls. By this time I was nervously shuffling my feet, wringing my hands and dying inside. Read more

Is it possible that there is more going on than we can possibly understand? The Apostle Paul claimed that God's "paths"-his schemes-"are beyond tracing out" (Rom. 11:33). That implies some mystery. Other texts claim each of us is a destiny-a planned, on-purpose being that God wanted to cast in his unfolding play. If this is true, we can't think about life in terms of making our own story. Read more

Generally speaking, I hate to wait. I always have an eye out for the shortest line at the store and religiously pursue short-cuts around traffic. Read more

What ever happened to the words of Jesus, "It is more blessed to give than to receive"? (Acts 20:35) The idea of sacrifice and giving ourselves in service to others is viewed by many today as one of those ridiculous little outdated standards that we have done well to abandon. Read more

1John 3:15 declares, "Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him."

Generally, we don't think of getting ticked off at people as having anything to do with murder, but Scripture claims that anger unchecked has the seed of murder in it. Read more

This week, President Obama rescinded an executive order that prohibited the use of federal funds for stem cell research. Though this move is the fulfillment of a campaign promise (and shouldn't surprise us), it is very disturbing for those of us who are advocates of life. The fundamental impediment to our acceptance of embryonic stem cell research has to do with destruction of the human embryo. Read more

When I first began pastoring nearly thirty years ago, I spent the bulk of my time studying, praying, and counseling people. I lived and breathed ministry and longed for the spectacular. Whatever was going to happen, I knew it was going to be large. My ego, my expectations, and my plans grew exponentially by the minute. And I could almost hear the jet God was sending my way. Read more